CONTINUUM | Portraits for the City of Ottawa and the Karsh-Masson Gallery

I was commissioned by the City of Ottawa to take eight portraits: seven artists and one curator. The seven, emerging artists were being honoured by the Karsh Foundation for their individual contributions to the photography in the Ottawa region. I sat down individually with each artist in my student for at least an hour. Together we crafted these portraits.

SHAWN & MJ

After seeing my self portrait from 2016, Shawn asked if I'd be interested in creating a similar piece of him and his wife. Of course, I said yes. I'm always excited to play with conventional portrait styles and put my twist on them. In this case, we are referencing the tradition his and her portraits that usually go in a family room.

They put this above their couch.

OLIVIER

Olivier (Olli) and I have been collaborating for a few years now. He wanted something unique. Something that he has never seen before. So I put a model of a heptahedron on his head. He got what he asked for.

ABANDONED

A series of editorial images for a client. The concept was simple: drop off the model off the side of the highway in four different areas. In each composition, the model removes an article or two of clothing, slowing breaking away the facade. These images were also featured at the Scotiabank CONTACT Festival in 2016.

RORY

Rory asked for a series of images for his upcoming music project. We sat in the studio together and created this portrait.

HENRY

Henry was a student of mine when I was teaching ESL at a university in Canada. He was preparing to be a philosophy student. I was intrigued by his uniformity. Nearly everyday he dressed the same. Black on black. His hair slicked back with nothing out of place. The words he chose to speak were well curated and inspired by dark TV and movies he had just watched. When I asked to take his portrait, he was hesitant. Worried about images do not truly capture a human's image. I assured him that a portrait with 8x10 camera does not distort the face. It just documents what it sees.